How do I generate tone and the beginning of my tape so I can keep my sound consistent in post....or does it automatically do that since Im not using a second source for sound? I am running sound straight out the camera.
Thanks
Ryan

To the best of my knowledge no con / pro-sumer camera can
generate a tone to lay down to tape. You will have to use an
external device that can generate a tone and record from that.

Perhaps you could bring a mixer capable of producing tone for your shoot? Another option is Fostex's TT-15 Tone Oscillator, which sells for around $60 US. Click on this (http://www.fostex.co.jp/int/pages/products/access/tt15.htm) for information.

Thank you guys very much for your help. I havent really heard much talk on the subject and was wondering if there was an obvious answer or if no one really bothers with it.

You can lay down a tone in premiere pro with color bars at the start of the tape. I set my timecode to 00:58:30:00 and record 30 secs. of tone and color bars and a min of black.

I use final cut so I am not familiar with premiere....now you are laying this down on the tape itself? Also how do you set it, what level do you put it at and such.

Yeah you just lay down the bars and tone and export to tape at the start. You can adjust it to any level using the mixer within premiere pro, but I usually leave it at -12. I believe 0 is the peak level you can go in digital without it distorting.

Excellent...does anyone know if this is an option on final cut pro 4 as well?

Finally, now that you have set tone to 12 what exactly does this do for you?

<<<-- Originally posted by Ryan Wachter : Excellent...does anyone know if this is an option on final cut pro 4 as well?

Finally, now that you have set tone to 12 what exactly does this do for you? -->>>

In FCP 4, look in the Video Generators effects folder. I believe it's called Bars and Tone. The -12db tone is used as a reference when calibrating the playback system. The tone tells the tape operator where to set the levels for playback.

Rick

The operator of what exactly? If it is transfered to say dvd then you dont have tone at the beginning of the movie to tell you where to set your tv volume controls. So where exactly does this helpful tone come into play....again I want to thank you for your help.

By "operator" I believe Rick refers to a technician, perhaps broadcast, who would be using a tape produced by someone else.

Obviously, if you're just producing a personal dvd the bars-and-tone effort is largely pointless.

Yep. Tone is used primarily to calibrate different sources to use a common level. So, if dubbing a DV tape to BetaSP, you'd put tone at the head of your tape, and the technician would then calibrate the BetaSP deck so that the audio input levels were appropriate for the tone that's being sent.

Or, tone is used by a field mixer to calibrate the levels the mixer is seeing to what the camera is recording.

But if it's for your own personal projects, and nobody has to calibrate anything to your video, then tone is not necessary.

<<<-- Originally posted by Barry Green : Yep. Tone is used primarily to calibrate different sources to use a common level. So, if dubbing a DV tape to BetaSP, you'd put tone at the head of your tape, and the technician would then calibrate the BetaSP deck so that the audio input levels were appropriate for the tone that's being sent.

Or, tone is used by a field mixer to calibrate the levels the mixer is seeing to what the camera is recording.

But if it's for your own personal projects, and nobody has to calibrate anything to your video, then tone is not necessary. -->>>

My answer was clear as mud. Barry said it much better than I did.

That will do it, now one last thing. If I am planning on sending my project to film festivals am I going to still want the tone? Or say sending it in to a public tc show?

There are no universal answers to those questions. Contact the respective venues to determine what they prefer.

But would those generally be places to use tone? Is it something that is normally used in festival submissions?

Well, yes, maybe they would... but keep in mind, tone & bars are useless if you didn't edit your video and mix your audio to comply with them.

For example, you should have mixed your audio so that you have good, consistent, strong levels, dialogue centered around -6 or so, peaks in loud passages no higher than -3 or so, etc. If you've done all that, then you'd put a 1Khz tone on the tape that's balanced at a common reference point, like -20db, so that the calibration means something. If you don't know where your mix is at or what levels you're at, then it won't matter whether you supply a standard tone. The tone is for the tech to be able to calibrate their system to yours, so yours has to be properly calibrated around the tone as well.

So, what I'm saying is, when you know what it's for, it all makes sense. But if you don't know what it's for, then it may not make sense for you to include it. By that I mean, if you just mixed your audio by ear, it may be better to omit the tone and let the tech ride the fader throughout, trying to balance your audio as best he/she can. When you supply a tone on the tape, it's like a tacit agreement between you and the tech that you know what you're doing, you've mixed your audio properly, and he/she can safely calibrate their system to yours and that all will be well.